The Permanent Campaign
Did you ever wonder why President Obama wants your birthday, wedding or anniversary money? He does. ABC News reports describes the newest fundraising vehicle: an event register, just like the Bed, Bath and Beyond listing that lets you donate money to him instead of your wife or bride on that special day.”You’ve dreamed of this day. Your life partner is there, your family and friends have gathered from far and wide, and all that’s left to do before you share that first married kiss is …” give to the Obama campaign.
Yes, give to the Obama campaign.
The Obama campaign, which has made political fundraising into an art form, rolled out yet another option on Friday for Americans who want to help give Barack Obama another four years in the White House: the Obama event registry.
“Got a birthday, anniversary, or wedding coming up?” the campaign asks on its official Web site. “Let your friends know how important this election is to you—register with Obama 2012, and ask for a donation in lieu of a gift.
The extent to which the President has to pander to donors was illustrated by the fete he gave to gay supporters at the White House. “While at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the activists danced to the sounds of a Marine Corps band, dined on crab crabs and hand-delivered letters from citizens back home, but some of them also took the time to ‘flip the bird’ at the late president’s likeness, the Weekly Standard Reported. Matthew Hart, the national director of public engagement at Solutions for Progress – an organization that provides assistance to poor families – and photographer Zoe Strauss were caught on camera making the obscene gesture.”
Flip One for the Gipper
That may seem a little crude, but in defense of the President, what choice does he have? He needs the money, the donations provided by the bird flippers above are vitally needed to make ends meet. The Obama campaign expenses are so prodigious that it actually puts out more than it takes in. Had it not been for the fact that the Marine Corps band is paid for by the taxpayer, allowing him to save on expenses, the fete might have been operating at yet another loss.
Fighting to keep his job, President Obama spent more money than he raised in May, and ended the month with $109.7 million in cash reserves — a more than 6-to-1 advantage over his Republican rival Mitt Romney, federal reports filed Wednesday show.
Obama, who has been able to accumulate cash as Romney fended off primary challengers, spent three times more in May than he did in April, reflecting new investments in staff — a total of 703 campaign workers in May, up from 631 a month earlier — and the barrage of television commercials in battleground states that have touted his record and slammed presumptive GOP nominee Romney’s business career.
The need for money is so great the President must actually run the risk posed by dinner forks at public events. Before President Obama addressed the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the diners were asked to surrender their forks.
Regalado hurried the diners to finish up their salads and pre-cut chicken breasts, saying that the Secret Service required that there be no knives at the tables and that the forks be rounded up before Obama entered the room.
“As you know, we’re having another speaker and there is some Secret Service involved. So there’s a reason why there’s no knives at your table and the forks will be collected. … And I’m not joking,” Regalado told the audience in a ballroom at Disney’s Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. “So, like the good Hispanic mother I’m here to tell you to please, eat your lunch.”
There is no peril, hardship or menace that the President won’t face to get at that campaign buck. Getting re-elected is really hard work, especially when you do nothing else. The Economist, writing in April, described just how massive the re-election effort was. Describing his headquarters, the magazine wrote “it would look like the trading floor of a bank, were it not for the casual clothes and dorm-room atmosphere. The cavernous open-plan headquarters of Barack Obama’s re-election campaign houses over 300 workers seated in serried rows, jabbering into phones and tapping purposefully at computer keyboards.”
One corner of this football field of desks is given over to “regional pods”, which oversee the campaign in different parts of the country. Nearby sit teams that focus on particular slices of the electorate, including the young, the old, women, religious groups, racial minorities and gay voters. The IT department occupies a whole bank of desks, as does the one charged with drumming up support via Facebook, Twitter and the like. There is a training division, a scheduling unit, a travel desk and an in-house printing shop. There are media monitors, spokesmen, speechwriters, video editors and graphic designers, not to mention fund-raising co-ordinators, accountants, lawyers and a knot of workers devoted solely to typing up the various reports and disclosures required by the Federal Election Commission. Plenty of empty desk-space remains, in anticipation of further hiring before November.
Yet this hive of electioneering is only the most visible manifestation of a campaign that has been gathering steam for over a year now, as a spokesman explains. Obama 2012 has over 100 offices spread across nearly every state … Whereas Mr Romney has spent $14m on television and radio advertising, Mr Obama has devoted only $3m to that. Instead, he has spent $12m on online advertising, to Mr Romney’s $1m, and $15m on staff, to Mr Romney’s $5m. Mr Romney’s headquarters, in a drab low-rise building in Boston, is a fraction the size of Mr Obama’s. In many states, Mr Romney has no formal presence, having closed his offices after the local primary, or never having opened any in the first place.
This huge staff means that candidate Obama’s fixed costs are enormous. Literally thousands of activists depend on his herculean fundraising efforts for their paychecks. He has got an army working for him. The Hollywood Reporter says celebrities are worried that President Obama is overworking himself.
“We don’t like what he’s doing, but we understand it,” says one Hollywood fund-raising insider. “He has to raise the money. It’s a bad situation.” …
And the Obama campaign is far from done: An online contest is underway that allows donor-participants to name the celebrity they’d like to join for dinner with the president, and on June 26, Obama will appear onstage in Miami at a benefit concert with singer Marc Anthony. Another online contest offers backstage passes to that event (with an entry form in English and Spanish, signaling how important Latinos will be to winning Florida).
The Latino money will be welcome. The Economist notes that even merchandising has not been overlooked. “To keep flightier visitors interested, the campaign uses gimmicky branded goods—from Obama 2012 nail polish to dog bowls—and competitions among donors to have a meal with Mr and Mrs Obama. ” As long as they don’t bring the forks.
Checks in the City
Belmont Commenters
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Good thing they took the knives and forks. Imagine the damage to the paintings!
Dear Obama Merchandiser:
When you refer to the “Obama dog bowl,” are you describing a bowl used to feed a dog or a bowl designed to feed those who eat dog?
Looks like more non-combat cases of PTSD coming from this particular Marine Corps band assignment.
All the training, committment, pride and sacrifice to wear that grand uniform and now you’re an unwilling participant in this shameful public disgrace. Were they allowed to play “Semper Fidelis” or forced to learn “It’s Raining Men?”
When you refer to the “Obama dog bowl,” are you describing a bowl used to feed a dog or a bowl designed to feed those who eat dog?
Even though I don’t admire the President’s policies, I could not help but feel a real pang when reading this. There is something pitiful, almost heart-wrenching about the cheapness to which this farce has descended.
Whatever you thought of the President as a man, there remained the a desire to respect the office as a symbol of the nation, as the embodiment of its history and the sacrifices and labor which went into its making.
But the spectacle of a Marine Band playing to that bunch of activists as they snarfed down canapes, preparatory to posing for their pictures, or seeing the President’s likeness or symbolism on a dog bowl — with or without the dog — would cut to the core, were it not so comically absurd.
The question that went through my mind was: is anything sacred to that campaign? Is there somewhere in that “trading floor headquarters” some residual notion of the “ashes of our fathers and the temples of our gods”? Or is it all some kind of in-joke? And is everything for sale?
It is deemed uncivil to ask such questions, but they literally shout themselves out. What has he done? What have we done?
You have to read the fine print further down -
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-20/obama-spends-more-than-he-raises-as-aides-see-romney-advantage.html
“Obama has now raised $261.4 million for his re-election and Romney $123.6 million.”
However, expect the MSM to concentrate on the narrative of being outspent by the evil Republicans while Obama wines and dines with the 1 percenters.
I recall pix of Clinton’s buddies getting on Marine One for a golf outing. Somebody ‘way down the chain got the word and picture out. Don’t piss off the people ‘way down the chain. Servants may be invisible, but they’re neither deaf nor dumb.
Taking forks away from the Latinos is stunning. From these our betters, this behavior can only be described as ‘raciss’, a charge usually reserved for us. Did the blacks have forks? You bet they did, as did the feminists, the Jews, the Asians, the Hollywood mavens, the academians, the union bosses and the Wall Street titans. Had Romney removed the forks for a Latino dinner, rest assured from now until November we’d be hearing on all sides about his tin ear as well as his wife’s horses. While Obama golfs.
The registry of gifts from Obama is no surprise at all. To this lot the personal is political, so why not your wedding? Marriage itself has become a political weapon for them, as witnessed by the ‘evolution’ on gay marriage, the birds flipped at Reagan with lesbians kissing on the couch beneath the portrait. The personal is political, and it is in your face. Let’s all leap to the cutting edge, baby. What was yesterday an intensely personal Holy Sacrament is today performance art with an attitude and a peanut gallery of catcalls.
Giving to Obama is a sublime thing, a selfless and holy act, focused on a higher cause such as Obama rather than the base exploitation of your public moment for personal gain. Plus, you can demonstrate your hipness to everybody.
The whole of it is sickening. That’s what it is.
What has he done? What have we done?
Followed in the muddy footsteps of one Bubba J. Clinton who had Tom Hanks jumping up and down on the bed in the Lincoln Bedroom.
I dunno, maybe we should go to public financing for campaigns, not because there is anything corrupting about money, but because it would (presumably) do away with these spectacles. Politicians just cannot help themselves, they need our pity and assistance.
Bubba also flew out to Los Angeles nearly once a week in his time in orifice, he infamously shut down traffic to LAX for an hour once while he got a haircut on the runway in Air Force One, but at least they didn’t used to shut down the streets as widely then as they do now – though they’ve gotten much better at it in Los Angeles since 2009. Even Dubya used to fly out this way and disrupt traffic a couple of times a year.
It was after all the sin of simony, “buying or selling for a temporal price such things as are spiritual” that was the key to outraging Martin Luther and lead to the reformation – added to several others of course, most of all the immense hypocrisy of the clerics supposedly in place to serve the populace. Sound like anyone you know?
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14001a.htm
“Is anything sacred to that campaign?”
Yes.
Winning.
Everything else is subordinate to that.
Win at any cost.
The fortieth lie in Dreams from my Father is that Obama ate dog. Obama lied, and the dog died of old age. Now anytime anyone quotes something embarrassing from that book Obama’s supporters can say, “That’s a lie!” This is also true of his speeches.
I don’t like Peggy Noonan but I did like her line on this;
“Why is he running for President. Isn’t he already president?”
If Berry had done his job, he wouldn’t need to run for POTUS. Unemployment at 5% and a healthy economy and he is automatically re-elected. It’s too late for him now. 137 days till the election. Not much he can do to change things. His only hope is for a black swan that favors him to land in the White house Pool. Since it’s indoors, not much chance of that.
Wretchard @4: “It is deemed uncivil to ask such questions, but they literally shout themselves out. What has he done? What have we done?”
Precisely.
Obama has made it clear. Everything is on the auction block. Everything. His name, his image, his position, his power, his influence, his time, his imprimatur. Our laws, our Constitution, our international standing, our people, our principles, our reputation. Our freedom. Our economy. That’s the good news.
The bad news? After the election he can “be more flexible.”
Obama has pegged the parameters for this campaign. Sadly, he’s made it clear “cheap” and “farce” represent the high bars. The obvious question: How low is he willing to go?
It is good to know that Obama is actually creating some jobs, but there is something wrong about that description of “teams that focus on particular slices of the electorate” — no mention of the key team focused on the critically important Dead Vote.
One of the truisms in advertising is supposedly that 90% of all advertising is wasted; we just don’t know which 90%. For Obumble’s campaign, that percentage wasted probably goes to 99%. The punters who will vote for him already know they will cast their votes that way, and the rest of us know that we will never Vote for the Crook. (The only question is whether we will vote for anybody else for President — and Soetero has no influence on that decision).
Obambi’s campaign effort is a great big waste of time. He would be much better served by focusing on governing. But he knows how to campaign, and he does not know how to govern. His campaign is a great big waste of money too, but that is an issue for the Chinese.
President Obama, reflecting on the radiance of his argent being, describes, in all humility, what he would see in the mirror if he were someone or something else.
If I were a pol I would be like the Borgias
If I were a burger I would be a McGorgeous
If I were a king I would be a rich Saudi
If I were a dress I’d be spangled and gaudy
If I were a flower I’d be beauty but thorny
If I were Bill Clinton I’d be old but still horny
If I were a ship I would be the Titanic
If I were the iceberg it’s I who would panic
If I were a speech I’d be words bright and shiny
If I were a woods I would smell sweet and piney
If I were a mirror who sees my reflection
I’d tell him I view him with deepest affection
If I were a bird I’d fly higher than eagles
And if I were me I’d give votes to illegals
And if YOU were me you would know you are glory
And know that too soon is the end of the story
Isn’t interesting that in the act of appealing to his radical base for money he is turning off the middle and energizing the right thus canceling out a good portion of what votes his TV ads will gain him.
Then there is the constant mockery of Obama and company via the internet a large part of it done for free. Everything from “Downfall” memes to musicals skits. The ‘Net let’s anyone be a reporter and let’s anyone run a mini-campaign. Death by a thousand yucks.
John Stewart at Comedy Central burned Obama big time on Fast and Furious.
Possible Black Swan;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18561219
Something real fishy about this. It might just be the fog of war. Syria is claiming a kill at 10 Km’s. It is also claiming that it was AAA that brought the F-4 down. At least one of those claims is wrong. The best Air Defence unit Syria has is the Pantsyr-S1;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantsir-S1
Wiki is wrong about a few things. The unit is useless against stealth aircraft.
“Aerial targets include everything with a minimum radar-cross-section of 2 cm2 to 3 cm2″
It is of course classified but rumor is the B-2 has a RCS of .002 cm2 while the F-22 is .004
That doesn’t matter against an F-4 which has a RCS above 15. What matters is the max range on the 30mm auto cannon the Pantsyr mounts is 4 Km’s. Syria also has m-60 57mm AAA guns. They also have a max range of 4 Km’s. The F-4 was making a high speed recon pass at 100 feet (meters?) AT either 100 feet or meters the F-4 is going down right where it was hit. At 10 Km’s it was outside the range of any Syrian guns.
Sombody is lying, or it didn’t happen the way they said.
Which side is looking for a causi belli? That F-4 wasn’t going to find anything CNN couldn’t find on Google Earth. Why send it? Syria KNEW it was an F-4. Only Turkey Still uses F-4′s in the Med. There is more here then meets the eye. Turkey has UAV’s. Why send a long in the tooth Vietnam war veteran?
Of course nothing is sacred.
Power is Everything.
The Progressives took advantage of Our Media and Jane Soccer-Mom’s desire for a “Royal Family” style celebrity figurehead and finally presented the perfect storm in “historic” Barack and Michelle.
You can see that to Michelle, more than anybody, this is all about the celebrity status and material perks afforded to her by her husband’s office, while all the real decisions have been made by the Cabal of Sunstein, Power, Chu, Sebelius, Holdren, Holder, Stern, Lerner, Rathke, Valerie Jarrett, that EPA Harridan, and the “Power comes from the barrel of a gun” guy.
I think maybe the best argument we have is to ask people if they really think (at least) 4 more years of Cass Sunstein, Lisa Jackson, and Valerie Jarrett is good for ANYBODY except Cass Sunstein, Lisa Jackson, and Valerie Jarrett.
The removal of edged and pointed dining utensils from the membership of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials should have given mortal offense if they had any personal integrity. But then again, being members of an organization like that [and being allowed in "Teh Won"'s presence], I would have to assume that they were Democrats, so the point is moot. I was reminded of something about food tasters I read long ago, and searched it out:
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/138692/09/06/11/bad-taste
“French correspondent Albert Amgar sent along this story from Le Monde, and French professor Amy translated.
As far as his claiming the gifts from weddings, wakes, bar mitzvahs, bat mitvahs, graduations, et. al.: I am reminded of a friend who decades ago became for a period of time a follower of one of the many purported teenaged Indian “perfect masters” who turned up in Los Angeles in the 1970′s; whose devotees literally worshiped the ground he walked on. Mind you, I referred to him as a “pudgy little Indian fraud”, and was amused when his scam collapsed. Anyone who asks his friends and family to turn the ceremonies and rites that delineate our lives into an act of worship to Obama, is as delusional as my friend was. Except, my friend escaped and went on to live a life. Obama worshipers are probably not going to be able to do that.
I assume that their dearest wish is for him to claim ius primae noctis, regardless of gender.
Subotai Bahadur, who sees the Mandate of Heaven departing.
The Obama administration is trying to inflict on the US the infamous Death by 10,000 pricks…
For the Left especially for Obama vulgarity is not a bug but a feature. It has revolutionary creds. Lenin denounced “bourgeois morality” even as he was personally socially reactionary and censorious of moral radicals like Rosa Luxemburg. The trash TV behavior of Michelle and Barack cuts across racial lines in reaching their audience. The tone was set four years ago and the public did not rise up to reject it but accepted the judgment of the MSM that criticism was a sign of backwardness. Now even Obama Girl is having second thoughts.
The Obama campaign headquarters is a perfect illustration of what James DeLong called a Special Interest State (SIS) being retailed to factions. “Nearby sit teams that focus on particular slices of the electorate, including the young, the old, women, religious groups, racial minorities and gay voters”.
Anyone who can scare up the requisite amount can buy influence at the Big Tent. Step right up folks, hurry, hurry! You there with the keffiyeh, I can do a deal for you. What? Well that’s already been sold, but if you stand right there sir, I will find something for you. We have it on stock or on order!
Entirely missing from this vend-o-rama of favors is anything called the national interest. It is government of the faction, by the faction and for the faction. The very abomination that the Constitution had been designed to prevent. And there it is, in full frigging fig, selling whatever isn’t nailed down by credit card, check, Twitter or Facebook, hurry, hurry, hurry.
And the most amazing thing is that they’re proud of it. By inclusive they mean they’ll sell anything to anybody. Your sons to NAMBLA, their grandmothers to the pharmaceutical indutry, your children’s education to the unions. To do otherwise would be bigoted, and in a manner of speaking, they are right.
There’s just one thing wrong. Reality is about to pull down the switch. And I can’t say that I’ll be sorry.
forgot to mention on an earlier post -
Pelosi: Obama should unilaterally eliminate the debt ceiling
http://washingtonexaminer.com/pelosi-obama-should-unilaterally-eliminate-the-debt-ceiling/article/2500408
print, print, print,
print and run,
print, print, print,
print and run,
….
From the USA Today article Wretchard quoted: “President Obama spent more money than he raised in May, and ended the month with $109.7 million in cash reserves — a more than 6-to-1 advantage over his Republican rival Mitt Romney, federal reports filed Wednesday show.”
Okay. But the Dimocrats, via their multitudinous arms/online/email campaigns and entities, are actually painting the Dimocrat Goliath as an itty-bitty David who needs help to defeat that bad old Republican giant: who, after all, is getting oceans of money from rich corporations and “billionaires such as Koch” and evil SuperPACs, while the poor Dimocrats must try to match this titanic effort with their pitiful little $3 donations from all the Little Fellas.
Here’s a hyperventilating salutation from Democrats.com: “Remember the Republican “War on Women,” featuring bills to restrict birth control, defund Planned Parenthood, and require transvaginal probes?”
They are utterly without shame. Really, like Goebbels et cie.
“residual notion of the “ashes of our fathers and the temples of our gods”?”
With respect, Richard — he and his henchmen regard these as the ashes of their Enemy’s Fathers and their Enemy’s Gods. Hence the gleeful profanation of the temple.
This is the One Thing that everyone needs to get (or keep firmly in mind): the Left has slavered after America’s destruction ever since it arose from the ooze of man’s malice and envy.
Wretchard says: This huge staff means that candidate Obama’s fixed costs are enormous. Literally thousands of activists depend on his herculean fundraising efforts for their paychecks. He has got an army working for him.
Be interesting to see what will happen when he begins stiffing vendors to pay that army. Hillary’s 2008 campaign got into serious trouble with small business owners that way: “A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9259.html
As for the official Obama dog bowl, I’ve been thinking of putting a sign above the cats’ litter box that reads “Stimulus-Free Shovel-Ready Job Site.”
“The Obama campaign expenses are so prodigious that it actually puts out more than it takes in.”
The term of art for this condition is “burn rate”, one that became infamous in the late 90′s–the dotcom era/bubble. As we all recall, this was a time when many business plans/models that ordinarily wouldn’t have been taken seriously attracted tens or even hundreds of millions of venture capital which was then promptly burned at astonishing and unsustainable rates. And then in March of 2000, the pin of fiscal reality was shoved into the balloon and the bubble popped. Thinking of the Obama campaign as a ill-conceived dotcom with an unsustainable burn rate, a wildly ineffective product, and about to get popped–that works for me.
W:
“Whatever you thought of the President as a man, there remained the a desire to respect the office as a symbol of the nation, as the embodiment of its history and the sacrifices and labor which went into its making.”
It is precisely this reason that I hold absolutely no pang, no sympathy, nothing but loathing towards the current occupier at WH.
Those 300 campaign workers remind me of the Eisengruppen – the teams that the Nazis formed to hunt Jews.
One reason they were so dedicated to their job is that the alternative was to go fight the Allies, which pretty much all had guns and could shoot back. More fun to hunt Jews and a lot safer. And one can imagine what the real soldiers thought of the REMFs like the Eisengruppen; probably would have been some tragic accidents.
The future of those 300 Obama War Room workers depends on Obama’s victory. The only way they will be employed after November is that if Obama can push through an additional expansion of the Federal government, shovel more Federal money to state and local governments, establish more grants to study if sailboats scare birds in SF Bay or how grandparents are thought of in Alaska or how the people in Siberia can better relate to their own government. Or to fund novice filmmakers’ ideas.
No way The 300 are going to get real jobs if they can avoid it….
How sad it is that their whole self is defined by their sexual orientation. Apparently they are nothing without it, as it pervades their every activity, public and private, with exaggerated emphasis on public outrage to draw attention.
Acceptance is not the goal of these one-percenters who happen to be gay. It is an excuse to behave badly and gain fame.
I’ve lost one brother to suicide, and almost lost another to depression, both of whom were gay. I have two gay nieces whom I love dearly. I may be conservative, but I don’t hate gay people as claimed.
Anything for a buck. Yup.
tomw
To paraphrase the mellifluous Roscoe Lee Browne from “Soap”, I thought that I had reached the point where nothing this administration could do would surprise me. I see now that I was wrong.
Could this get any tackier or more tawdry? Starling has it exactly right – the Obamanauts have established an organization based on the premise of collecting a billion dollars, and their burn rate is going to kill them, since they haven’t bothered to stab most of their potential donors in the back, but are instead looking them in the eye while they twist the knife.
And Walt, I know it’s been said before, but you really are a genius.
“but some of them also took the time to ‘flip the bird’ at the late president’s likeness”
That is why I think some gays should be put to death. The rest should just be excluded from the Boy Scouts. Homo sexuals’ like Rahm gave the national socialists a ‘leg up’ when they needed to squeeze into the public sector. Self destructive lifestyles are never satisfied destroying their own… they must find ways to pie piper the kiddies to the edge of their lofty abyss.
“The IT department occupies a whole bank of desks, as does the one charged with drumming up support via Facebook, Twitter and the like”
Like lurking here in the shadows and calling into conservative talk shows with lilted exasperation in their voices. Obama commands an army of pissed off women (mamasoto fea) and limp dick eunuchs where the nancy boy reigns supreme. Things are getting bad and I would not want to share a foxhole with any one of them. TWANLOC
“The Latino money will be welcome.” So will the votes… especially the ones that come from illegal aliens. Their numbers surely out vote the dead nowadays and much harder to dig up when ballots are recounted.
Perhaps the Obama dog bowl will become the most enduring symbol of his administration. He has made a dog’s breakfast of all he has touched.
“That is why I think some gays should be put to death…”
Is that supposed to be a joke?
yes. Just like it was funny to talk about assassinating GWB. Protected classes can say and do whatever they want and the genetically inferior like me bettor toe the line.
I understand. I will do penance and send a donation to Lord Obama.
Absolutely the most classless tawdry president that this country has EVER seen!
He is a vile disgrace to the office.
For all you racists out there who sneer and refuse to register for Buraq’s gift registry, I want you to know that over half all black New Yorkers are out of work – all because you didn’t let Buraq spend more of your money! For shame , Racists.
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/06/21/blacks-take-it-on-the-chin-in-new-york/
Coalitions of rent seekers another thinker called it recently.
I think the gays are mad at Reagan for not funding enough research, when if I remember correctly, AIDS didn’t even reach the popular media until 1982 and whose retrovirus cause wasn’t linked to the disease until 1984.
The thing that always bothered me about the gays and AIDS was the utter lack of stoicism and dignity that the AIDS activists (and I understand that they may not have represented the whole of the gay community) demonstrated. “Cure me now! I have a right to live! How dare you not find a cure today!” It was narcissism crossed with hubris. Every one of us share this terminal disease called life. The high-risk gays (and I do want to separate the bath-house crowd from others) lived life very fast indeed and incurred an enormous amount of risk. How could they expect any other fate? If nothing else, the whole AIDS debacle taught me the importance of facing death with dignity. Indeed of facing every day with some small degree of stoicism for it could very well be my last.
I’ll close by contrasting the mentalities of the March of Dimes and AIDS activism. March of Dimes appealed to all of us. If everyone threw a dime or two in the kitty, maybe, together we can find a cure for polio (and we did!). The AIDS activists divided us. You (conservative straights) are killing us. We don’t want your charity or prayers. We want government money and we want it now!
The party need never stop, right?
Is there somewhere in that “trading floor headquarters” some residual notion of the “ashes of our fathers and the temples of our gods”?
…………..
They are not his father or the temple of his gods.
That’s why the whole birth biz was/is so important.
the college kids are mostly trained in school to feel like foreign ambassadors to their own country.
RWE @29… That’s “Einsatzgruppen”, my friend.
I don’t understand comment 33. Wretchard, would you please look at comments 31 and 33 to see if you can tell what is going on? Suggesting that people be killed seems to me to cross a line.
As for ‘Flip One for the Gipper’
(Philly Magazine, where the original story broke)
UPDATE 6/22 9:30 p.m.: According to Fox News, the White House has issued a statement rebuking some of the behavior described in this article: “While the White House does not control the conduct of guests at receptions, we certainly expect that all attendees conduct themselves in a respectful manner. Most all do. These individuals clearly did not. Behavior like this doesn’t belong anywhere, least of all in the White House.”
For a while the story was taken down (I assume under Carney pressure), but it became widely known, so Obama gang had to do cya. They are only sorry the story broke in the first place. (Typical)
s @ 16: Something real fishy about this.
I don’t see what – by your link the Pantsir has 2x that range. It’s a little surprising to see Turkey sending an F-4 anywhere near the hostilities, but there may be a lot going on there we’re not seeing good reports on.
–
Regarding Obambus generally, great column by Mark Steyn today:
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/memoir-360243-obama-fake.html
Obama the first Invented-American president
And so we regard the first member of the Invented-American community to make it to the White House as a kinda weird development rather than an encouraging sign of how a new post-racial, post-gender, post-modern America is moving beyond the old straitjackets of black and white, male and female, gay and straight, real and hallucinatory.
…
–
rwe @ 28: No way The 300 are going to get real jobs if they can avoid it….
It’s called marketing, yesterday they were selling Mazda Miatas, today they’re selling Barry Soetoros, tomorrow they’ll be selling iPads, iPods, or iPuds.
Sarah, said that tongue in cheek to make the point that those who have staked out the claim to righteous indignation dish out loads of abuse daily. The level of incivility promulgated by the left is largely unanswered. My intention was to provoke the politically correct brain police to uncloak themselves and I succeeded. If you think that I am promoting violence by offering my opinion in parody then you are an idiot trolling for offense to exercise your self given right to muzzle speech that you find offensive. I I thought for a moment that you’d exercise such zeal to moderate all intemperate political commentary I’d offer you my sincere apologies. As it stands, I think you are just the kind of person who spends their time looking to impose your fascist sense of morality on those who do not share your views.
Have a nice day.
Brussel’s Journal
Voice of Conservatism in Europe
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3409
Postcard from Zinnlandia
From the desk of Takuan Seiyo on Fri, 2008-07-11 21:37
We are leaving Zinnlandia, after all – that great land of the Pacific Northwest, rich in good wine, including zinfandel, and other bounties of nature. Howard Zinn and his doppelgänger, Noam Chomsky, are to the coastal zones of this blessed land what St. Patrick is to the Emerald Isle. And, like Finlandia, Jutlandia and Hollandia, Zinnlandia too has much Northern European DNA.
Zinnlandia is in Amerikka – that racist, capitalist land of injustice, sexism, specieism, lookism, theism, militarism and homophobia. As a material and cultural Marxist, and skillful propagandist, Zinn – a master of sieving American history for its worst nuggets – is the perfect avatar for the self-flagellating white inhabitant of this land.
A Zinnlandian I met on this trip, a WASP physician endowed with the best education much money can buy, told me that he does not celebrate July 4th because the Declaration of Independence had been written by a slave owner and signed by other slave owners. He was just as hotly critical of the “racism” of Americans in dealing with the growing Muslim immigrant minority. The conversation unfolded over a bottle of Oregon Vino Pinko, with the likeness of a notorious Cuban mass murderer on the label.
Besides the pervasive lefty obtuseness as to the true nature of Che Guevara, there is one central paradox in this Zinnlandian, as there is in all of them. In the case of the good doctor, he donates his time and money to schools and clinics in Tanzania, where he has visited several times. And Tanzania, particularly Zanzibar, is a living memorial to the horrors of slave trafficking by Moslem Arabs and black Africans — far larger and crueler than the slave trade that soiled the New World, preceding it by a thousand years, evident still in the 1960s, and ended only due to Western insistence.
So we have here a mind twisted into self-contradicting loops designed to screen out everything good about “us” and everything bad about “the other.” This particular dhimmi-in-training has managed not only to block out all the greatness and goodness of the American Founding Fathers, and the merits of the nation that they launched, but also to overlook that his favorite country, Tanzania, exemplifies the horrors he purports to abhor and that, unlike America, it has hardly any countervailing merits.
The purpose of Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky have been to write northern europeans out of American history. Why? This goes back to McCarthy.
Approval for the President is trending back down. Money can’t buy happiness and preaching to the choir doesn’t usually expand the choir.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history
Mr. Romney appears to be running a highly targeted campaign. When we see the Obama campaign running tv spots here in California, we’ll know the tide has truly turned against him.
Best wishes to all the usual suspects.
re: Howard Zinn
Why would anyone trust a history by someone who utterly hates the subject he’s writing about?
The wedding registry fiasco shows the utter pomposity of our political masters. Let’s take the most sacred covenant known to man and belittle it to offer homage to the demented little rats who are steering the ship of state over the cliff. I’d rather send a box of chocolates to Dr. Zawahiri in the the batcave than give a nickel to the fool on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The gay blade in the photo flipping off Ronald Reagan is unapologetic. He said after,something to the effect that Reagan was president when the AIDS epidemic was exploding. Unless Reagan was bending male interns over the White House desk that dog won’t hunt. Oh wait that Congressman Gerry Studds (nice name for a sissy) (D-Mass)
Sarah, take a chill pill homegirl, quit crying to the teacher, “teacher Annoy Mouse said something scary, put some duct tape over his mouth” Get over yourself.
Let’s lighten it up if we can and de-escalate.
Walt #14:
More artistry!
But for the thread on “Krugman and Money” I was patiently waiting you to come up with one based on that old song that goes, “Its the root of all evil, …. but I could be happy honey with plenty of money and you.”
Tomw #29:
That’s really the essence of the problem. Take any aspect of a any person’s personality, including heterosexuality, emphasize that aspect above all other things and you end up with fanatic who does nothing but damage to himself, anyone else, and society in general.
As David Horowitz once observed about a 2002 anti-war rally: “Islamic radicals marched alongside feminist lesbians, despite the fact that the Islamics would have had the lesbians killed if they could.”
For the Leftist causes, the enemy of your enemy is not really your friend, but just somebody else looking to stab you in the back too, when the time comes.
Josh #41:
Actually, it’s called scamming. Yesterday they were selling debt consolidation schemes over the phone , saying “Obama has made it possible for consumers to eliminate much of their debt.”
Sorry
“I don’t understand comment 33. Wretchard, would you please look at comments 31 and 33 to see if you can tell what is going on? Suggesting that people be killed seems to me to cross a line.”
I don’t understand your line. IMHO the cure for AIDS is a 9mm behind the left ear. I believe I have a 1st amendment right to that opinion. IIRC, Talking about violence is NOT a crime, planning to use violence is. Conspiring with others to commit violent acts most certainly is. If your personal line includes conversation, may I suggest you immigrate to one of the many nations that have no 1st amendment. That would be easier for all concerned.
As far as anti-social sexual deviants, they are a pox on humanity and the greatest threat our (my? I’m not sure you are a member of society) society faces. Coach Jerry raped hundreds of young boys. Well, he’ll soon find out what that is about. I hope he lives a loooong time and never learns to enjoy his daily prostate massage.
33 is about liberals threatening POTUS. That IS a crime. Don’t believe me? call the Sercrt service and tell them Bushhitler isn’t going to get away with his crimes. They will send some nice guys (well, their mothers love them) over to explain things to you. Offer them coffee.
Josh, you were looking at the SAM’s carried by the Pantsyr-S1. IIRC, they have a range of almost 20 Km’s. The article said AAA ( Anti Aircraft Artillery). So either it was a SAM, not AAA, the range was much less, or the altitude much more. I’m not understanding why the deceit. Intentional or fog of war? It most certainly is a causi belli for whichever side wants it to be. I’m trying to figure out which side feels it has the most to gain. Remember, it’s the ME. Wheels within wheels within wheels are normal.
Assad is delusional. He might think a war with Turkey will unite his country. Sounds silly? People keep buying penis enlargement pills. The SAMS can hit beyond Syria’s territory. AAA can’t. So what was an aggressive act of war is now self defence. Let’s call it the Zimmerman ploy.
Not sure what Turkey is up to. From what I can find in open source, The Turkish people DO NOT want a war with Syria. No telling what the mullahs or generals want. Turkey is scheduled for F-35′s to replace their F-4′s. That is a major upgrade.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/f-35-joint-strike-fighter-events-contracts-2008-updated-04659/
Turkey is tier 3, although Britain looks to be dropping out. Britain wanted the ‘B’, VTOL model. So it will be a while.
37. Charles – …the college kids are mostly trained in school to feel like foreign ambassadors to their own country.
Another way of expressing it is they are trained and view themselves as missionaries to spread the message of progressive/liberal salvation to their ignorant, reactionary/heathen families and fellow countrymen… /g
46. Raoul Ortega – re: Howard Zinn – Why would anyone trust a history by someone who utterly hates the subject he’s writing about?
It boggles my mind, for sure, but I imagine Matt Damon could explain it.
48. wretchard – Let’s lighten it up if we can and de-escalate.
A worthy suggestion. If only Leonidas had tried that with Xerxes, how differently things might have turned out… /g,d&r (that’s grinnin’, duckin’ & runnin’)
51. stoicheion
Not sure what Turkey is up to.
Erdohan has delusions of Turkey leading the resurrection of the Caliphate, with him at the helm, of course. He, however, like one of our regular BC contributors, greatly overestimates the strength of the hand he and Turkey holds.
OT
imho the Indians have it right. if they can get every other nation of ASEAN to steam the same route then all will be well in the south china sea.
Indian Navy in South China Sea: Beijing’s unwelcome escort
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/indian-navy-in-south-china-sea-beijings-unwelcome-escort/962011/
OT but in the interests of de-escalating.
According to today’s Financial Post there are about 25,000 unemployed construction workers in the two communities of Riverside California and Clarke County Nevada. In August the Calgary Economic Development Commission is leading Calgary employers to job fairs in these two places. I think these are temporary jobs.
Alberta is desperately seeking workers. Maybe you know someone who would be interested in taking a look to see if there is an opportunity for them, even if it’s temporary.
ss @ 25: there are about 25,000 unemployed construction workers in the two communities of Riverside California and Clarke County Nevada
Hard to count. Probably 20,000 are Hispanic, and more than half of those illegals, and most working at least sporadic hours, for cash.
Just having done my first home renovation project, and consulting with more experienced people in my “brain trust” along the way, I’ve just gotten my primer on how all that is working. I sort of knew before, but got to see more of it first-hand.
So how does Canada feel about attracting illegal Hispanics?
51. stoicheion
The article stated that the low flying aircraft was brought down over the water at 1km from the coastline. AAA could be effective at that range, as would some type of missile. It also stated that the closest town was 10km away from the crash site. The two stated ranges seem to be mixed into the story incorrectly.
Flying at either 100ft or 300ft above the Med at high speed for any length of time within 1km of the coastline is high risk for a bird strike, which can be just as destructive as AAA.
Mr. Fernandez,
Have you heard from Habu lately?
56. Josh
I can’t speak for any prospective employer and don’t know any more than is in this article.
Presumably the Canadian immigration and work permit rules would exclude workers who are in the U.S. illegally ?????
53. tharkun
I smell a Frenchman in the woodshed. The new French whatever he is would no doubt like to start his administration off on a good note. Syria would look to be a chance to bolster French influence and pride. Plus the French are desperate to sell Rafals;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kqR1H3RV3g
The Rafal might be the best 4th generation fighter/bomber. Unfortunately for Dassault, 5th generation fighter are now operational. Why spend 100 million plus for and untried combat aircraft when Used F-16′s are going for 40 mill a pop and SU-30m’s for just a little more?
The Rafal needs a campaign where it can strut it’s stuff. Syria would be ideal.
Turkey needs modern fighter/bombers as was proved by the loss of a 50 year old design the other day. It is waiting on the F-35. Lockheed and the DoD are slow walking the F-35. partly because of problems with the VTOL version. Partly because they want a bigger contract and know they need to wait for a new administration and improved economy to get it.
So France sends a few squadrons of Rafals to Turky, where they are used to clear the sky of the Syrian Air Force. With control of the air, a Turkish Mech Division can be parked in Assads front yard within 30 hours, max. If Assad runs, the French/Turkish axis goes home and puts their hand picked dictator on the throne. If he doesn’t run, they cuff him and turn him over to the Hague for war crimes. The Turkish dude is now a hero in Islam and one step closer to being the Caliph. The Frence dude is now a hero for saving all those babies. The Turkish military is happy because they now have a bunch of Rafals parked on Turkish airbases that can be had for a song. Dassault is happy because the Rafal now has a war reputation so maybe they can sell some.
The unhappy ones (geopolitics is a zero sum game) are Assad, who is worried about a noose, the Mad Dog Mullahs, who loose their entire foreign policy and Pootie who sees his foothold in the ME chopped off.
Richard, sorry about adding my log to the fire. I’m to old to hate any more but I really loath those who think their 1st amendment right should be used to deny others theirs.
Well that’s my 4 rounds. Box magazines sorta suck.
Sammy @ 57 — some of the sources say that the Turkish warplane was 1 kilometer (or kilometre if we are really sucking up to the French) inside Syrian airspace; what the rest of us would call, ‘well out to sea’. But we clearly are not getting accurate info from any source.
Re the de-escalating contretemps (damn! Those French get everywhere) between Sarah and others — may I drop a helpful hint in Sarah’s ear? Your expression of indignation at #32 would have been much more effective if you had begun by affirming how disgusted you were at the unacceptable behavior of those homosexual activists in the White House. That would have helped establish your bona fides, and lent weight to your concern.
I for one find Sarah Rolph and her comments objectionable. It was not to long ago that such a similar sort of attack on one of our regular posters led to the expulsion of Whiskey, followed by the departure several other regular posters in the grudge war that followed.
I do not recall having seen Commissar Rolph posting here before, and think she may be our assigned troll, here to invoke thought crime.
I remind you all of the previous faux civility campaigns of the Left, interespersed with calls for assassination and murder of Conservatives as various as George Bush, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, I feel no inhibitions. Hell, I’ve had a couple of not-too-serious death threats my own insignificant self.
#25 – PA CAT – “As for the official Obama dog bowl, I’ve been thinking of putting a sign above the cats’ litter box that reads “Stimulus-Free Shovel-Ready Job Site.”
Oh! Thank you for that one! Glad I wasn’t drinking coffee at the time!
Annoy Mouse and stoicheion,
If I make so bold I think that we three, along with most of the Belmont Club regulars, agree on a few basic principles that enable us to share a tent large enough to include Republicans Conservatives Libertarians and even sincere traditional George Meany or Paddy Moynihan type patriotic labor Democrats. Chief among these is a belief that we need not appeal to the power of government, that is to Force, where voluntary interactions between adults are possible. Second is a respect for private property and the right of the owner to determine when where and how to offer their property in a market. The Belmont Club is private property. Legally it is owned by PJ Media, according to the “Terms of Use” a California corporation. The First Amendment does not apply. Referring to it was an uncharacteristic mistake. We are ruled by courtesy alone. As Mr Dooley pointed out so are the Senate and the Teamsters Union.
As a rule the Editors defer to our host. As a rule our host rules with a very light hand. It is my belief and hope that we almost all want to help him and avoid any risk of this place suffering the over regulated fate of LGF. It is my belief that the Lizard Realm imploded not simply due to Charles Johnson coming out for the Left but because he got trapped in a cycle of micromanagement and banning.
Are comments that you would like classes of people, homosexuals muslims lawyers or used car salesmen, killed a violation of the posted Guidelines? Probably not but they do skirt close and they certainly can be considered unwise. Violence, as in the evocation of the 2nd Amendment, is the ultimate arbiter as given in “The Three Conjectures.” It is our task, if I understand the purpose of the blog, to offer assistance and put off that evil day. As Sir Humphrey put it in “Yes Minister” when asked what to do “when the chips are down” it is his job “to keep the chips up.” We seek to preserve civilization. Identifying threats to civilized society, such as a culture of abusive gays who desecrate the White House, is part of our mission.
If I have wandered beyond a commentator’s remit here then I ask to be corrected by our host or our community.
“So how does Canada feel about attracting illegal Hispanics?”
I can’t speak for the rest of Canada, but I think illegal workers are good for the economy.
Illegals take jobs and wages that no citizen would stoop to take. If they weren’t here, which of the debt-laden university graduates would take their place? They are filling a market need for cheap labour. If they are granted amnesty, then apart from being entitled to welfare and all sorts of social programs, they would also need to be payed minimum wage. This would necessitate mass layoffs, because employers couldn’t afford to keep all their workers; then they get unemployment insurance. All that being said, I don’t actually know what the situation is with Canadian immigration.
Remember that in the nineteenth century, there was no welfare, and open immigration. And the greatest rise in prosperity over such a short time in the history of the world.
#64 Blast
“…culture of abusive gays who desecrate the White House…”
Tactics of Alinsky, mixed in with a little Gramsci, send a potent message. Ridicule rather than hand-wringing seems to be just as potent a counter message.
“not sure what Turkey is up to”
Probably the obvious. They have configured some F-4s into intel platforms and are using them. A Syrian battery shot one down.
Maybe the hot new Russian rockets or AA guns. That will not matter much. How close was the battery to the Russian naval base?
The F-4 upgraded to modern standards and I believe Turkey has upgraded them and to be an RF 4 Phantom makes this platform a good and modern choice for a Recon bird. The smokers slick can really haul ass even at low altitude. Not as obsolete as the MiG 17′s used against it almost 40 years ago.
Range of the AAA? Could the F4 been hit well inside the engagement range of the AAA but travel to 10 km before the crew ejected or the aircraft went into the sea? At up to super sonic speeds how long would a Phantom jet take to travel that 10 km? Engaged at PB to 4 km range and hit, travels 6 to 10 km hits water.
Paddy Moynihan type patriotic labor Democrats
Oh, c’mon. I have never understood the undeserved reputation that that party-line voting hack seems to still have. His voting record was indistinguishable from that of the Sea-Lion of the Senate, Teddy “Chappaquidick” Kennedy. Can anyone point to a single vote where this so-called moderate caused him to vote with the GOP and not with his fellow Dems?
HEP-T@68:
Assuming a speed of 600 knots, by my reckoning you would cover 10 km in just over 30 seconds.
A dem, is a dem, is a dem.
” If they weren’t here, which of the debt-laden university graduates would take their place?”
The ones that would starve to death if we did meaningful welfare reform.
Two problems solved.
I have little sympathy for the gays and what they suffered in the AIDS epidemic. Living in NYC at the time, I was in the belly of the beast and remember quite well what was going on.
First, there was the hysteria. We were told every day in the newspapers and on TV (there was no interwebs of course) that AIDS was right on the verge of breaking out massively into the straight community. So far, it was prevalent only among gays and IV drug users. But doom was moments away. “Everyone” knew it, just like “everyone” knew global warming was happening. It was a concerted, deliberate fear campaign. It’s hard to recall now how afraid people were, how straight people swore off sex because of it.
Dissenting voices in the medical/research community — there were a few — who said “no, it’s never going to explode into the heterosexual population because that’s not how it works,” were shouted down and called every name in the book. They were effectively silenced. If I recall correctly, some careers were lost. The fact that they were ultimately proven correct of course meant nothing to the Thought Police.
A proper public health response was also shouted down. What do you do with a suddenly rampant infectious disease? You quarantine people. Standard procedure to control epidemics. But this was not allowed. Comparisons were made to — can ya guess? — yes, Nazi Germany, what else? As if somehow restricting people — temporarily mind you — for their own good and the sake of others was akin to shuffling them into death camps. Well, we didn’t get a quarantine and who knows how many more gay men died as a result. But they won the political battle.
There was also the sheer ignorance of how medical science worked. Those on the front lines of gay outrage really seemed to believe that it was simply a matter of money spent. As if there were an unlimited number of scientists who could do AIDS research and they were all just sitting around doing nothing because Ronald Reagan or whoever didn’t open the wallet enough. The fact that the number of research scientists was very finite and that in short order a significant number of them WERE working on AIDS meant nothing to the activists. No, there was a sinister plot afoot, and thousands of phantom epidemiologists were being blocked from finding a cure due to the machinations of evil straight white men. People absolutely believed this, and believe it still. I suppose I might flip the bird at someone if I believed in this nefarious plot, but then I tend not to believe crackpot fantasies.
Finally, it became clear very early that AIDS was a lifestyle disease. There were two things you did to get it (with the rare early exception of tainted blood transfusions that were quickly stopped). If you didn’t do those things, you didn’t get it. But neither gay men nor IV drug users were willing to give up their “lifestyles,” at least not until a whole lot of them were dead and dying. And even then we had the phenomenon of gay men deliberately engaging in unprotected sex when they knew they had AIDS in order to spread it, as some kind of demented political statement. I know this sounds unbelievable, but I was avidly reading The Village Voice in those days, and there were those on the Left who defended this practice as some sort of demonic “right”.
So ignorance, hubris, insufferable self-righteousness and the need to win the political battle far more than the public health battle created the crisis and prolonged it, and drove the death rate much higher than it would have been had simple common sense and civility reigned.
All that said, it was still a very sad business. If you want to read a truly excellent book about the time period, read Paul Monette’s “Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir.” Of course he was just as misguided as the rest in his politics, but the personal events the book documents are heart breaking, and Monette was a terrific writer. I say “was” because he died of AIDS.
51. stoicheion wrote to Wretchard: “I don’t understand your line. IMHO the cure for AIDS is a 9mm behind the left ear. I believe I have a 1st amendment right to that opinion”.
1. Legally, that is probably correct, but close to a limit if Chaplinsky v. New Hampshsire still has any meaning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplinsky_v._New_Hampshire).
2. Morally, your opinion seems to me to be at odds with the foundational principals of our Judeo-Christian civilization: “hate the sin, love the sinner”.
To #64. Blast From the Past – Well done, bravo.
73. peterike
There are some of us who remember.
re: Dissenting voices in the medical/research community — there were a few — who said “no, it’s never going to explode into the heterosexual population because that’s not how it works,” were shouted down and called every name in the book. They were effectively silenced. If I recall correctly, some careers were lost. The fact that they were ultimately proven correct of course meant nothing to the Thought Police.
Peter Duesberg comes to mind. He was still being hounded professionally and legally even as late as 2010.
@75. tharkun, I was thinking the exact same thing. I first read Duesberg’s work in the early to mid-1990′s and what was done and has been done to him was atrocious. I’m not a scientist or researcher in his areas of expertise but I knew even then that his work was not being evaluated on the merits. From what I can tell and can remember of his work, it has been largely vindicated.
Peter Duesberg comes to mind.
Yes, precisely. I was trying to pull his name from the cobwebs in my brain, but couldn’t manage it. Ahhh, growing old!
Once one considers all the losers, freaks, sycophants, whiners and malcontents who make up the Obama side, why would one ever want to join them?
It’s like his cabinet. Ringling Bros. never had such a freak show!
stoicheion – Your opinion of the best treatment for AIDS leaves out an inconvenient fact – that (admittedly a few) people with no guilt by anyone’s standards (except those of Jehovah’s Witnesses) have died of AIDS because of infected blood and blood products. Incidentally, the same applies to other infections and diseases such as CJD and hepatitis C. One of the more famous victims of this problem was Isaac Asimov. Did he deserve a 9mm injection?
As it happens, I have been affected in another way by this. I would like to donate blood, but the UK’s blood transfusion service will not allow me to – because I had twenty or so transfusions a decade ago. The prohibition is absolute and permanent – in the UK if you have ever had a transfusion then you don’t donate blood. It does lead to problems, but the rate of blood-borne infections here is vanishingly small.
It might also be the case that the American practice of paying for blood donations contributed to the “infected blood” problem. Who, after all, is most likely to resort to this income stream?
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